WWUTT 868 Not Even His Brothers Believed in Him?

Did Jesus have half-brothers and sisters? Did Mary have other children other than Jesus? The answer is yes. And there are actually some serious theological problems if you say no when we understand the text.

Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text is an online ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty. Visit our website at www .utt .com.

John 7 and the Brothers of Jesus

Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes.

Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of the Gospel of John, Chapter 7 this week, and I'll begin by reading verses 1 -24. The Apostle John wrote, After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him.

Now the Jews' feast of booths was at hand. So Jesus' brothers said to him, Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works that you are doing. For no one works in secret, if he seeks to be known openly.

If you do these things, show yourself to the world. For not even his brothers believed in him. Jesus said to them, My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me, because I testify about it that its works are evil.

You go up to the feast. I am not going to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come. After saying this, he remained in Galilee. But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly, but in private.

The Jews were looking for him at the feast and saying, Where is he? And there was much muttering about him among the people. While some said, He is a good man, others said, No, he is leading the people astray.

Yet for fear of the Jews, no one spoke openly of him. About the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching. The Jews therefore marveled, saying, How is it that this man has learning when he has never studied?

So Jesus answered them, My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory.

But the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me? The crowd answered, You have a demon.

Who is seeking to kill you? Jesus answered them, I did one work, and you all marvel at it. Moses gave you circumcision, not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers. And you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.

If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man's whole body well? Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.

Jesus Stays in Galilee Because the Jews Seek to Kill Him

So these events that we're reading about here in chapter 7 immediately follow what we read in chapter 6. In chapter 6 transpired over a couple of days. We had Jesus feeding the 5 ,000, then he sent his disciples in a boat across the Sea of Galilee.

That night he comes walking out to them on the sea while there was a big windstorm that was keeping them from getting to the other side. So then he transported to the other side of the sea with them, and the people were looking for Jesus the next day.

They got in boats, went to the other side and found Jesus there. And then that was when we had the discourse about Jesus being the bread of life, which took up most of chapter 6. All of that happened in Galilee.

So we start here with chapter 7 saying, after this, Jesus went about in Galilee, so he's remaining there. He's not going back to Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill him. That was all the way back in chapter 5.

It was in verse 18 where it says, this was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him. Because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own father, making himself equal with God.

So if you'll remember back to chapter 5, it was Jesus healing the lame man by the pool on the Sabbath. And the Jews, the teachers, the Pharisees, the scribes, teachers of the law, they got upset that Jesus had done this on the Sabbath, that he had healed a man on the Sabbath.

But the reason why they wanted to kill him was not just because he had done something on the Sabbath, but because he was calling himself the son of God. He was referring to God as his own father, which was to make himself equal with God.

And that was why the people wanted to kill him. So now we come to chapter 7, where Jesus is staying away from Judea because the people want to kill him. And in fact, this visit here in chapter 7, where he goes down for the Feast of Booths, this is a rare stepping into Judea because we actually don't see him do this again until he returns to Bethany to heal Lazarus and raise Lazarus from the dead.

When Jesus decides to do that, his disciples are kind of reluctant. They're like, oh, we don't want to go back to Judea. The people were trying to kill us there. And once Jesus says, no, we're going to go and wake up our friend Lazarus, it's Thomas who's the one that says, come on, let us go and we'll all die together.

He was quite a pessimist. In fact, that would be a better name for Thomas, not doubting Thomas, but Thomas the pessimist. That seems to be his M .O. more so than being a doubter. So here in chapter 7, again, Jesus remains in Galilee instead of going down to Judea because the Jews wanted to kill him.

The Feast of Booths and the Mockery of Jesus' Brothers

Verse 2, now the Jews' Feast of Booths was at hand. Do you remember the Feast of Booths? So this is one of the major Jewish holidays still celebrated even today. And it falls in the Jewish calendar sometime around September or October, depending on the phases of the moon.

And what is done during the Feast of Booths is that people would live in shelters to remember God's faithfulness to Israel during the time that they were wandering in the wilderness. It's actually a time of festiveness.

It's one of the most jubilant festivals that the Jews practice. They celebrated the fact that God had brought them out of slavery in Egypt and that he provided abundantly for them. But part of the feast involves living in tents or huts outside to remember the fact that they had been dwelling in the wilderness and yet God provided for them even though they were faithless.

God was faithful to his promises to the Jews. So this is the particular feast that's going on sometime around the fall, like early part of the fall. And his brothers, Jesus' brothers, kind of taunt him a little bit here.

They say, leave here and go to Judea that your disciples also may see the works that you are doing. It's not necessarily that Jesus' brothers are trying to get him to go to Judea so that he'll die. They're not that vindictive.

Of course, they did not believe in Jesus, that he was who he said he was. Rather, what they're doing here is they're just kind of trying to test him. They're mocking him, really. If you are who you say you are, if you claim that God is your father and that you've been sent to do this great work and you're performing all these miracles and everything, then go to Judea.

Yeah, sure. There are people there that want to kill you, but you're the son of God. You'll be able to stop that from happening. So go to Judea and and let your disciples see your mighty works. The fact that even though the people there want to kill you, you are able to stop them for no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly.

You know, Jesus went and taught in the synagogues and in the temple. And so, therefore, his brothers are saying, you want a public ministry, then go and make yourself public. That's what you need to do.

You need to go to the feast where all the Jews are gathered together at this time to hear you speak. If you do these things, show yourself to the world. So, again, they're just kind of mocking him here.

And then verse five says, for not even his brothers believed in him. Now, these are the actual flesh and blood brothers of Jesus. They are his half brothers, for they all came from the same mother. And that's Mary.

But his brothers and sisters were of Mary and Joseph. Jesus was not conceived of the seat of a man, but he was conceived of the Holy Spirit. So Joseph was his adopted father, not his biological father.

This is not the only place that we've had a reference to Jesus family in the Gospel of John for in the previous chapter, chapter six, verse 42. The people said, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?

How does he now say, I have come down from heaven? And we know who is his family is. We know his father and mother are. So how can he say that his father is in heaven and that he has come down from heaven?

He didn't come down from heaven. He came from Nazareth. That's what the people thought of Jesus. So even in the Gospel of John, we've had another reference to his family. The people knew who Jesus was and who his household was.

The Siblings of Jesus and the Perpetual Virginity of Mary

And here we have a reference to his half brothers who are also mentioned in the other Gospels. For example, in Matthew, chapter 13, verses 24 through 26, Jesus came to his hometown of Nazareth and preached in the synagogue.

And the people said, where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary and are not his brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas are not all his sisters with us?

Where then did this man get all of these things? So there's a reference to Jesus brothers and sisters even there in the first book of the New Testament. Now, there's a doctrine out there that's very common.

It's mostly attributed to the Roman Catholic Church, and it's the doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary. You probably knew where I was. I was going with this that I was going to mention this particular doctrine.

The idea of this doctrine is that Mary never knew a man. Even after she had Jesus, she never knew Joseph and she never had any other children. And that goes directly against what is said in the New Testament.

Even the apostle Paul gave testimony to the half brother of Jesus, James, whom he references in first Corinthians 15 as one that Jesus appeared to after his resurrection. And two books in the New Testament were written by Jesus half brothers.

That's the book of James and the book of Jude. But apologists will continue to appeal for the perpetual virginity of Mary, and they'll go right on insisting that these were not Mary's biological children.

These these references to Jesus siblings as early as the fourth century, St. Jerome said these children of Mary were actually cousins born of Mary, born to Mary of Cleopas, Jesus and and his mother's sister.

Since Mary of Nazareth and Mary of Cleopas were sisters and share the exact same first name, it's easy to see why someone could be confused. Jerome further insisted that the Greek word Adelphi translated brothers in Matthew 13, 55 could also mean cousins, not biological children.

Fifth century theologian Augustine of Hippo also believed this. Another popular theory is that Joseph had another wife before Mary and these siblings mentioned in the Gospels and by Paul were Joseph's former wife's children.

Well, that latter theory would be a travesty, because if Jesus was not Joseph's first son, he could not be heir to the throne of David, which Matthew makes clear in the genealogy at the start of his gospel.

But the other theory is also bunk, the whole idea that Joseph was married to Mary's sister. The use of Adelphi in the New Testament never means anything other than blood relation, blood related kinsmen.

Now, we do see the word appear to describe the spiritual brethren in the church Adelphi, but all the saints are still related by blood. We are brothers and sisters redeemed by the blood of Christ. It is plainly stated in the scriptures that Jesus had half siblings specifically born to Mary and Joseph.

Marriage, Sexual Purity, and the Righteousness of Christ

Why would anyone feel the need to defy this and insist on the perpetual virginity of Mary? Now, I mentioned that this doctrine is common to the Catholic Church, but it's actually not just Catholic. It's popular with the Catholic Church, of course.

It's written in their in their catechism, but the Orthodox Church also believes in the perpetual virginity of Mary, as well as the Anglican Church and even some Protestants. John Wesley, for example, the founder of Methodism, the Wesleyan Church.

He said the Blessed Virgin Mary, who, as well after as before she brought him forth, referring to Jesus, continued a pure and unspotted virgin. Now, there's a couple of problems with this statement. Number one, Wesley is suggesting that a person who is not a virgin cannot be pure and unspotted.

And secondly, he's saying that living as a virgin is a higher order than marriage. First of all, Jesus said that if anyone lusts after a woman, he's committed adultery with her in his heart. That was in Matthew 528.

So sexual immorality is not just about what one does with their body. You can be physically a virgin and yet sexually impure. Regarding the second point, the Bible says nothing about virginity being a higher calling than marriage.

What the Bible does say is that prohibiting marriage for anyone is the teaching of demons. That's First Timothy four, one through three. And the Roman Catholic Church is guilty of that, for they prohibit their priests from getting married.

You know, it's not just in modern times that we've come to this idea that being a virgin is somehow more pure than even being married and having sex in marriage. This was a problem in Corinth. We read about it in First Corinthians.

In first century Corinth, a thinking had developed among some of the new Christians there in the Corinthian church that in order to be holy, they had to have they had to stop having sex all together, even with their spouses.

And they wrote to the Apostle Paul and said, it is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman. You've probably heard that stated before. That was a statement that was made to the Apostle Paul.

It was not a statement Paul was making to the Corinthian church. See First Corinthians seven, one. And Paul responded to them this way. Because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.

The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights and likewise the wife to her husband, for the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.

Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time that you may devote yourselves to prayer, but then come together again so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

So given that this was a command from the Apostle and therefore the Lord Jesus Christ, here's what we must understand. Had Mary not consummated her marriage with Joseph. She would have been sinning against God and rejecting his created order for marriage.

Jesus said, have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female and said, therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh.

So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let man not separate. That's Matthew 19, four through six. Jesus quoted from the creation story in Genesis after God made Eve from the rib of Adam.

Scripture says, therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh to the man and the woman. God said, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.

He looked at all that he had created and behold, it was very good. Marriage is the taking of two people, a man and a woman from two different families and making one new family. The two shall become one flesh.

The purpose of family is to be fruitful and multiply. This is God's intention for marriage, which he created. So to insist that Mary had only Jesus and never had any other children, but that she remained a virgin for the rest of her life.

And this was more pure of a calling. That's to make an argument against God's created order and his intention for marriage. It's just flat out not true. We see it plainly in scripture that Mary did have other children.

And I don't think that people who accept the doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary really consider the theological problems that they will run into if they adopt that particular doctrine. Now, what makes a person pure is not that they abstain from sex altogether, but rather that they treat sex the right way, the way that God has designed it.

The kind of purity we've been called to is to abstain from sexual immorality. Sex is meant for a husband and a wife, and any kind of sexual activity outside of that covenant is sin. Sex is good when it is enjoyed the way God meant for it to be enjoyed.

Hebrews 13, four says, let marriage be held in honor among all and let the marriage bed be undefiled for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. Jesus was the firstborn child, but he was not the only child.

The scripture is clear that Mary had children with Joseph, but this does not make her any less blessed or any less a woman to be admired. The purity that she had was not because of her abstinence that would not have made her pure at all.

It's because of her savior that Mary was pure, who cleanses us by his grace. All of us are presented spotless before God because of the righteousness of Christ. And so, therefore, let us walk in his righteousness and show ourselves to be faithful and true to him who is faithful and true, Jesus Christ, our savior.

Prayer and Closing Exhortation

And we'll stop there for now that going through, let's see, verse five, we've been through here in John seven, so we'll pick up there again tomorrow. Let's pray. Our Lord God, we thank you for the purity that you've given us in Christ.

We were stained. We were ugly. We were gross, impure, defiled because of our sin. And yet it is by the sacrifice of Christ on the cross that he died for our sin and washed us clean and clothed us in white garments.

Therefore, let us walk in this righteousness of Christ that we have been given no longer returning to the way of sin, but rather looking to Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith. Teach us these things today to love and appreciate those things that you have created and to live our lives in a way that you have said for us to live our lives, holy and pleasing and acceptable unto you.

For we have been bought with a great price. May we commit even our entire bodies unto God. As it says in Romans 12, 1, present your bodies as a living sacrifice unto the Lord. This is your spiritual act of worship.

In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Thank you for listening to When We Understand the Text. Pastor Gabe is the author of the book, 40 of the most popular Bible verses and what they really mean. Available in paperback or for your Kindle, found at our website at www .tt .com.

Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in the study of God's word when we understand the text.